President hits ground running and loses no time

What can be accomplished with a stay of less than 24 hours in Paris?

For the average visitor, it could be a visit to the Eiffel Tower, the Champs-Elysees and the Louvre, followed by a glass of Champagne at a fancy restaurant.

But for President Xi Jinping, this is time that is put to better use.

After his special flight landed at Orly International Airport at about 3:30 pm on Sunday, Xi talked with his French, United States, Russian and Brazilian counterparts on the sidelines of the key United Nations climate change conference.

The Paris conference is tasked with reaching a historic pact to tame global warming.

Xi didn't get to meet all of the nearly 150 heads of state and governments, but spoke briefly to a gathering of leaders.

He did so by giving a 10-minute speech at the summit on Monday at noon, expounding on China's views and future actions to reduce global emissions.

Xi was to leave Paris at about midnight on Monday for Zim-babwe, the first leg of his Africa visit, which will also take him to Johannesburg, where he will chair the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on Friday and Saturday.

The president is setting a pace that a young person might struggle to match.

The 62-year-old leader spent an extremely long working day on the eve of the Paris summit after an 11-hour flight from Beijing.

Hours after his arrival, Xi met with French President Francois Hollande, who, after a final day of preparation for the summit, had a late working dinner with his guest.

The presidents' tight schedules highlight how heads of government are striving to lend political impetus to the Paris meeting. Representing about 150 countries and regions, they kick-started two weeks of intense negotiations.

Xi and Hollande had met less than a month ago in Beijing. The French leader visited China on Nov 2 to seek support for a climate change deal in Paris. At that meeting, Xi told his guest that China was committed to ensuring the success of the climate conference.

Late on Sunday, Xi told Hollande that by attending the Paris gathering he hoped to show the international community China's firm support for France in its efforts to host a successful conference and for an international agreement to be reached that is applicable to all parties.

This echoed the two presidents' earlier joint statement that the Paris agreement "must send a clear signal for the world to transition to green, low-carbon, climate-resilient and sustainable development".

Xi's meeting with US President Barack Obama started less than two hours before the summit opening ceremony. His talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff took place after he addressed world leaders at the gathering.

Contact the writer at zhaohuanxin@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/01/2015 page3)